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Rucking & Maulingby Dan Cottrell
Understanding and organising an efficient defence strategy will help gain more turnovers and stop your team conceding territory and points.
Organisation
Once it is clear the ball in contact is not going to be won, players need to organise themselves in defence, starting by negating the most obvious and likely attacking option.
Most sides will prefer to maintain their momentum after the breakdown by going the same way “with the flow.”
With this in mind, the first two defenders should go to the far side of the ruck to stop the quick pick and go. The next two defenders fill the close spaces to the near side of the ruck. The fifth and sixth players, if available, should again go to the far side.
The order for defenders is: “far, far, near, near, far, far.”
Body position
The closer to the ruck, the lower body height should be. Players in the first two spots should adopt a “three-point” stance, like an American Football player at the scrimmage.
These close players – often called guard dogs or pillars – should not follow the ball but defend their space. They do not buy dummies or follow players running away from the ruck.
By angling the body slightly in towards the ruck, this tends to stop them following a runner and allows better vision. It also helps the tackle to be forced back toward or into the ruck.
Practice
Set up numbered cones down the pitch at varying distances forward and across. Make the first two/three players go on their knees at the ruck to simulate being out of the game.
The next players adopt the ruck positions. On your call, they go to the next cone and set up a fresh ruck defence with players rotating into the correct positions. Develop this by doing it against a “live” opposition using touch tackles and then full contact.
Points to note
Players close to the ruck should never follow the ball or any players peeling away but always defend their space.
Angling players’ body position in towards the ruck stops them following runners and offers better all-round vision.
Develop defensive ruck awareness by graduating from a coned set game to live defenders using touch then full contact.
This article is from Rugby Coach Weekly.
Organisation
Once it is clear the ball in contact is not going to be won, players need to organise themselves in defence, starting by negating the most obvious and likely attacking option.
Most sides will prefer to maintain their momentum after the breakdown by going the same way “with the flow.”
With this in mind, the first two defenders should go to the far side of the ruck to stop the quick pick and go. The next two defenders fill the close spaces to the near side of the ruck. The fifth and sixth players, if available, should again go to the far side.
The order for defenders is: “far, far, near, near, far, far.”
Body position
The closer to the ruck, the lower body height should be. Players in the first two spots should adopt a “three-point” stance, like an American Football player at the scrimmage.
These close players – often called guard dogs or pillars – should not follow the ball but defend their space. They do not buy dummies or follow players running away from the ruck.
By angling the body slightly in towards the ruck, this tends to stop them following a runner and allows better vision. It also helps the tackle to be forced back toward or into the ruck.
Practice
Set up numbered cones down the pitch at varying distances forward and across. Make the first two/three players go on their knees at the ruck to simulate being out of the game.
The next players adopt the ruck positions. On your call, they go to the next cone and set up a fresh ruck defence with players rotating into the correct positions. Develop this by doing it against a “live” opposition using touch tackles and then full contact.
Points to note
Players close to the ruck should never follow the ball or any players peeling away but always defend their space.
Angling players’ body position in towards the ruck stops them following runners and offers better all-round vision.
Develop defensive ruck awareness by graduating from a coned set game to live defenders using touch then full contact.
This article is from Rugby Coach Weekly.
Dan Cottrell
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